Safety carrier for nitroglycerin or other explosives



Nov. 30, 1943. A. MAZZEl 2,335,779

I SAFETY CARRIERS FOR NITRQ-GLYCERINE OR OTHER EXPLOSIVES Filed Jan. 20,1943 M- 41mm *1 I T 7.2 :7- 5 g 5 J H m gwva/wfo v llerio [Vazz e zpercentage of accidents.

Patented Nov. 30, 1943 SAFETY CARRIER- FOR NITROGLYCERIN OR OTHEREXPLOSIVES Alberto Mazzei, Sacramento, Calif.

Application June 20, 1943, Serial No. 473,020

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in safety carriers fornitroglycerin or other explosives. In service, the carrier may beemployed simply as a means for providing safe transportation of theexplosive overland; it may form a portion of a depth-bomb assembly, orit may serve as a part of a mine assembly for land or sea militaryservice, the invention herein being considered on the basis of thecarrier per se, this forming the main essential of the variousassemblages referred to.

Because of its extreme vulnerability to the effects of shocks and thelike, the transportation or the storage of nitroglycerin in warfareassemblages such as indicated, becomes a matter of major concern, sincepotential danger of explosion at unexpected and undesired points, isalways present; many of the other explosives have this samecharacteristic. Many efforts have been made to provide carriers offeringreasonable safety characteristics, and accidental detonations havethereby been reduced to low percentages, due to extreme care inhandling. But the potentialities are always present, and because ofthis, constant efforts are made to increase the safety factor and thusdecrease the The present invention is designed to produce this resultand to reduce accidents to a minimum.

The present invention relates to the type of such devices in which theexplosive charge is supporting by a spring suspension, but difiers incertain respects therefrom although retaining the spring suspensionfeature with certain modifications. velopment has been largely reducedover 1 the prior forms of such suspension, and, at the same time, thesafety of the charge in other respects is increased. v

To these and other ends, therefore, the nature. of which will be moreclearly indicated as the invention is hereinafter disclosed, saidinvention consists in the improved constructions and combinations ofparts particularly disclosed in the following specification, illustratedin the accompanying drawing, and more particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which similar reference charactersindicate similar parts in each of the views- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a carrier of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

As a result, the possibility of shock de- In the present invention, anunderlying feature is the provision of a supporting buoyant element ofgreater area than the explosive container and on which the latter isseated, the element having a spring connection with the bottom of thecasing, while the explosive container is spring supported from the topand the sides of the casing. The buoyant element is in the form of ahollow rubber bag or other form of container for air. Hence, the effectsof jars upon the carrier are not only damped with rapidity, but contactof the explosive container with its supporting element is made undercushioning conditions, so that the jars are practically kept fromapplication on the explosive container, regardless of the direction inwhich they are applied.

In the drawing, l0 indicates the casing, formed of metal and providedwith openings 10a at suitable points on its top and on one of its sides,the openings being of sufiicient dimensions to permit ready access tothe interior. Suitable covers II are provided for these openings. Thecasing also carries a pair of gripping elements l2one at each endwhichpermit the casing and its content to be carried about or be supported bya suitable carrying sling, not shown.

I3 indicates the container for the explosive, such as nitroglycerin, forinstance, this being formed preferable with walls of rubber, and havingits upper wall removable to permit insertion of the explosive. Thedimensions of the container are relatively small as compared with thoseof the casing, and is arranged to be supported by a plurality of springsl4, one extending from the top of the casing and a spring'leading inwardfrom each of the sides and ends of the casing, the casing and containercarrying securing means Ma (which may be in the form of hooks) formounting the ends of the springs.

Since the cover l3a of the container is firmly secured to the containerafter the explosive has been inserted, it is apparent that the containerhas somewhat of a cradle-like mounting, with the container movableindifferent directions by always having the movement resisted yieldablyby one or more of the springs l4, so far as the sides and ends areconcerned.

l5 indicates a buoyant element, formed of rubber and hollow, and theinternal content of which is air. 'In dimension, the element is somewhatlarger in area at its top than the area of the bottom of the containerl3, and with the depth of the element sufiicient to provide an aircontent suflicient to provide a positive buoyancy value to the element.A spring l6 connects the element with the bottom of the casing. Inservice, the explosive container rests upon the buoyant element; inservice, the casingis fllled, to approximately the level shown in Fig.3, with a fluid such as water, this level being some distance above thepositioned container.

As is apparent, the tethered element II, with its positive buoyancyvalue, will tend to rise within the fluid content, thus tending to placespring ll under slight tension, the vertical movement of. the element inthe upward direction under buoyancy always causing it to follow thecontainer in that direction whenever :Iar effects may tend to move thecontainer upward. However,-

the element movements tend to be sluggish, due to the presence of springI and the fact that the exposed surface of the top of the element mustpass upwardly within the fluid content; the fact that the top surface ofthe container must move upward through the fluid tends to dampen the jareffect of a container movement in the upward direction-together with thefact that such movement win tend to increase the tension of the side andend springs. Hence, while the jar effect in this direction may tend tobodily shift the container and its content upwardly, these conditionstend to damp the movement and limit its extent, while the dampingefl'ect on element I! will tend to make recontact with the containertake place under conditions of gentle contact and with no material shockcharacteristic.

On jars tending to move the container downwardly, the movement isopposed by the top spring I4 and the increase in tension of the side andend springs; in addition, however, it is opposed bythe need for movingelement l5 bodily downward within the fluid-the buoyancy of the elementis an effective agency in developing such resistance. Hence, themovement of the container in the downward direction-the direction mostcommonly encountered--is definitely dam ed by this combination ofresistance factors, and therefore is more or less limited, even inpresence of severe jars. In addition, the fact that the container wallis preferably of rubber, as is the walls of the element l5, and theposition ofthe container on the element places it directly above thehollow portion oi. the element, ensures that the development of shockduring theinitial period of the jar will be practically prevented, sincethe sudden pressure application will be made applicable on asemi-yieldable wall of the element, and thus take place without shock.

0n Jars tending to shiftthe container in a lateral direction, themovement is damped through the resistance of at least some of thesprings, as well as by the fact that both the container and element mustbe moved bodily through the fluid-the contact of container and elementis not materially affected by such movements since the element has butthe single connection with the casing, and its positive buoyancy causesit to maintain contact and to move with the container during themovement.

As a result the charge of explosive being carried isfree to move inpresence of Jars applied to the casing, regardless of the direction ofdirect application, but in each direction of movement the movement isdamped to an extent such as will prevent its reaching the walls of thecasing. In addition, the charge is not only supported by the springs ofits cradle, but additionally by the buoyant element IS, with the latterso formed that should there be a temporary loss 01 contact betweenthem,the restoration of contact is without any Jar eflect. These, plus thefact that the area dimensions of the buoyant element are such as toincrease materially the damping action of container movementdownwardly-the direction of movement most likely during overlandtransportation, for instance-provides for added safety.

Where the carrier is being used as a part of a military offensivestructure-such as a depth bomb or a mine--the casing will beadditionally provided with a container ll formed of rubber and which maycarry, internally, any suitable timing mechanism, the container having aleadcoated wire leading from its upper end and carried to the content ofcontainer II; the stiflness oi the connecting coated wire will permitits being positioned within the casing in such manner as to not afl'ectthe movements -of the container and element and to move with thecontainer due'to the ductile form of the connection. For instance, thecontent of the container I! may inelude a circuit make and break deviceof an electric circuit connected up to a battery external of the casingIII with the circuit make and break device normally open but brought toa closed position in suitable manner as by the seepage of fluid-thisbeing a well-known form of control for depth bomb service. As isapparent, a depth bomb equipped with a carrier of this type wouldexplode only by completion of the circuit: other types of content wouldrender the bomb active by contact of the normal outer bomb casing withthe object, such contact operating a sensitive make and break device. Ineach type the safety of the carrier so reduces the chances of accidentalexplosion as to render the carrier ideal for such services. The detailsof the timing structure are not shown since they may be of any of thewellknown forms and the assembly is used only where the carrier isinstalled as a part of the military oflensive structure, the presentinvention pertainingmore particularly to the safety carrier per se.

As is apparent, the carrier structure thus disclosed provides for safetyto an adequate degree by eliminating the possibility of producingiarring eflects on the explosive container content in presence ofmovements of such container during transportation or service. The fluidcontent not only serves to prevent access of flame to the explosive,but, additionally acts as a damping medium for movements of thecontainer and element. Hence, its presence, together with the yieldingconnections and the buoyant element, sets up an arrangement which doesnot prevent movement of the explosive c0ntalnerthus eliminating directjarring eifects from the casing-but becoming active as damping agenciesin limiting the extent of such movements, and thus prevent the creationof jarring effects as a reaction to the jarring action on the casing.Obviously, the fact that the explosive container is submerged willprovide for further safety in the event of damage to the container suchas will permit the fluid to enter the container and thereby dampen theexplosive content.

While I have herein disclosed a specific form of the safety carrier andindicate its various characteristics, it will be readily understood thatchanges and modifications therein may be found desirable or essential inmeeting the various forms of service for which it is applicable, and Idesire to be understood as reserving the right to make any and all suchchanges or modifications therein as may be found essential or desirablein meeting the exigencies of the service conditions, insofar as the samemay fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as presented inthe accompanying claims when broadly construed.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A safety carrier for high explosives and the like comprising afluid-containing casing, an explosive container of materially lessexternal dimensions than the internal dimensions of the casing, saidcontainer having a yieldable connection with the top of the casing and asimilar connection with the lateral side and end walls of the casing,the connections combinedly producing a cradle-like support for thecontainer, the top level of the fiuid'content of the casing being spacedfrom the top of the casing and located a material distance above theexplosive container, and a buoyant element of positive buoyancy valueyieldingly tethered to the bottom of the casing and normally positionedto provide a seat for the ex"- plosive container, whereby movements ofthe container due to jarring of the casing are permitted but with themovements damped to prevent jarring efiect transmission to the containerand its content.

2. A carrier as in claim 1 characterized in that the buoyant element isin the form of a hollow rubber member having an air content and havingthe dimensions of its upper face materially greater than the similardimensions of the lower face of the explosive container, the tetheringconnection of the element being with the lower face of the member,whereby downward movement of the container will be additionally dampedby the requirement of bodily movement of the member within the fluidcontent and in direction opposing the buoyancy effect.

3. A carrier as in claim 1 characterized in that the buoyant element isin the form ot a hollow rubber member having an air content and havingthe dimensions of its upper face materially greater than the similardimensions of the lower face of the explosive container, the tetheringconnection of the element being with the lower face of the member,whereby movement of the container downwardly will be additionallyclamped by the requirement of bodily movement of the member within thefluid content and in direction opposing the buoyancy effect, anyseparation of container and element during the reaction movement of thecontainer to such downward movement being dissipated by the elementfollow-up movement provided by such buoyancy effect and action, theseating relationship between container and element being restoredwithout jar to the container and its content due to the resilient natureof the rubber walls of the element and the damping effect of the needfor re-tracing the path through the fluid content.

4. A carrier as in claim 1 characterized in that the container andelement each have the walls of their contacting faces formed with arubber content of elastic characteristics to thereby prevent jarringeffect on the container content in presence of relative movements ofcontainer and element in providing seating contact of the container onthe element.

5. A carrier as in claim 1 characterized in that the bottom of thecasing also carries a fixedlypositioned rubber container for atiming-detonation content, with such container having an op erativeconnection with the content of the explosive container to thereby renderthe carrier serviceable as the detonating charge or a warfare munitionsassemblage.

ALBERTO MAZZEI.

